Submit your application by February 28, 2020!

5/2/2020 - The award will be given for his commitment to defending basic human rights and to assure a fair trial to all citizens of Tajikistan. The ceremony will be held on March 5 at the opening of the One World Film Festival. The Homo Homini Award will be presented by Ukrainian director, former political prisoner and 2018 Sakharov Prize laureate Oleg Sentsov.

 “We lawyers are not responsible for the actions of our clients, we are just performing our duty. It is our duty, therefore it must be performed to the highest standard,” answered Yorov after a secret service officer asked him to be less active in defending the arrested members of Islamic Renaissance Party.

Mr. Yorov has been promoting human rights in Tajikistan for many years despite facing severe persecution as a result of his work. He did not hesitate to defend clients who were targeted by politically motivated charges, whose cases other lawyers were not willing to take. He publicly complained in an interview that one of his clients was being subjected to torture while in pre-trial detention. As a result of doing his job, this prominent lawyer lost both his property and his freedom. 

In 2015, Mr Yorov was one of few lawyers who agreed to represent 13 members of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), and was himself arrested on the same day the Supreme Court of Tajikistan labelled the IRPT a terrorist organization. Police raided both his home and legal office without a warrant. Yorov was detained and ultimately charged with forgery, fraud, “arousing national, racial, local or religious hostility” and extremism. 

Before his sentencing, Yorov read aloud an 11th century poem by a Persian poet: “Society is spoiled by a few ignorant people who believe themselves the wisest.” As a result, authorities charged him with contempt of court and he was sentenced to additional two years.

“I am, of course, thinking about my relatives and loved ones, but first and foremost I think about 8 million citizens of my country,” said Buzurgmher Yorov.

The reward will be presented to his brother, activist and lawyer Jamshed Yorov.

Since the 1990s, People in Need has presented the Homo Homini Award to people and groups who have significantly contributed to the defense of human rights, democracy, and the nonviolent resolution of political conflicts. Past laureates include Chinese literary critic and dissident Liu Xiaobo, Azerbaijani lawyer Intiqam Aliyev, or Nicaraguan farmer Francisca Ramírez.

For more information or if you are interested in arranging an interview with Jamshed Yorov, please contact:

Vesna Evans, Media Coordinator, Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, People in Need This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +420 773 776 501

GOEAST PORTRAIT FEATURES THE INNOVATIVE ROMANIAN CINEMA OF RADU JUDE // “FILM HERITAGE IN TRANSITION” IN FOCUS AT GOEAST SYMPOSIUM

Wiesbaden/Frankfurt, Germany, February 5 2020: For the 20th anniversary edition of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film (running from May 5 to 11, 2020) the festival team is excited to welcome Bucharest-born director Radu Jude to Wiesbaden. 

With his hybrid style combining elements of fiction film, documentary cinema and theatre, Jude is rightfully considered a pioneer of the "new" Romanian New Wave, one whose films are above all devoted to confronting the dark chapters in the history of Central Europe, and Romania in particular. The goEast PORTRAIT for 2020 will showcase a comprehensive retrospective of Jude's work. Jude's films have already been featured twice in goEast's Competition section, namely his fiction feature debut THE HAPPIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD (Cea mai fericitã fatã din lume, 2009) and the documentary THE DEAD NATION (Tara moartă, 2017). This year's PORTRAIT will present six feature-length and six short films by Radu Jude, including his most recent work UPPERCASE PRINT (Tipografic majuscul, 2020). In addition, the director will be on hand for an extensive workshop talk. 

Finally, Radu Jude will also be appearing for an audience talk at the Hessen State Theatre as part of a co-operation between goEast and the International May Festival Wiesbaden. You can find more information on this event and others from mid February at www.maifestspiele.de.

Against the Looming Loss of Film Heritage – Surveying the Transitional Period at the goEast Symposium

For millions of individuals from Leipzig to Vladivostok, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union ushered in an era of all-encompassing systemic change. This year's goEast Symposium will take a look at the transitional period between 1985 and 1999: the cinema of these heady days was informed by mass lay-offs, the rise of organised crime and malaise, while also featuring great creative freedom and unhindered experimentation. Established structures for production and funding dissolved into thin air, forcing filmmakers to explore independent production options for the first time, while systematic archiving practices were abandoned. As a result, the film heritage of this era is at risk of being lost forever. Today we are still fortunate to find true screen treasures here, including aesthetic experiments, documentary films that dare to tackle taboo topics and fiction features exploring post-socialist narratives. For the Symposium, goEast is inviting international film scholars and researchers, cultural practitioners and filmmakers to gather in Wiesbaden to engage in a cinematic survey of the period in the scope of numerous lectures, panels and discussions. The goEast Symposium is made possible with the generous support of the Federal Foundation for the Study of Communist Dictatorship in East Germany.

The 20th edition of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film is scheduled to take place May 5-11 2020 in Wiesbaden, Germany.

The festival, hosted annually by DFF - Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum, has been presenting the artistry of Central and Eastern European filmmaking in all its diversity every year since its inception in 2001. Whether idiosyncratic auteur cinema or mainstream fare, fiction features or documentary films – the productions featured here are impressive works still largely unknown to Western audiences. In addition to the approximately 110 films of the official selection, a rich supporting programme once again invites guests to immerse themselves in the multifaceted cultures of our neighbours to the East.

Festival images are available for download at: Download

The full programme for the 20th anniversary edition of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film will be announced in mid April.

The international streaming service DAFilms presenting successful festival and documentary films online expands to Poland and Slovakia. Under the domains dafilms.pl and dafilms.sk, local viewers will find an expanded film catalogue which now includes national films and strong international titles which will only be accessible in these territories. The platforms in the new language versions were launched on February 3, 2020.

As the numbers of Polish and Slovak viewers of DAFilms have grown, we decided to enter these territories directly and to create specific regional platforms with a focus on local viewers which will respond to current topics in these countries. “We started building the DAFilms platform with Polish and Slovak films fifteen years ago, as pioneers in the field of online distribution. Since then, we have closely followed Polish and Slovak cinema and are very happy to be now able to use our experience and build film platforms directly for Polish and Slovak audiences,” says founder of DAFilms Nina Numankadić.

Making films accessible to local audiences

The launch of the language versions for Poland and Slovakia will make unique catalogues of films accessible to local viewers, offering quality works of local cinema online. The dafilms.sk domain will be the biggest streaming service in Slovakia providing local content. “The interest in local cinema is growing, especially in documentary film. However, many films are no longer available to viewers after their theatrical or television distribution. We believe that this will change with the launch of dafilms.sk,” says project manager of the Slovak platform Dorota Zacharová.

The current films accessible to Slovak viewers include the acclaimed documentary Válek by Patrik Lančarič, the provocative and innovative film The Last Self-Portrait by Marek Kuboš, and Theodor Kuhn’s fiction film By a Sharp Knife. The program further includes titles by established directors of “Generation 90” who received international acclaim, including Marko Škop, Peter Kerekes, Jaro Vojtek and Juraj Lehotský.

The Polish version offers successful local films such as The Prince and the Dybbuk, which brought the directing duo Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosołowski the Polish Film Academy award for best documentary of 2018, and Call Me Tony by Klaudiusz Chrostowski, who received the award for best student documentary at Amsterdam’s prestigious IDFA. “Contemporary Polish documentary films garner success at international festivals, however, they are not accessible to Polish viewers. We would further like to offer exceptional international documentaries which only appear fragmentarily at film festival programs in Poland,” specifies project manager of dafilms.pl Mikołaj Góralik.

International catalogue accessible with subscription

Most of the films will be available for online streaming or legal download. Viewers can choose between a monthly and yearly subscription or a one-time fee for download. Subscribers to the national version will also get access to the international film catalogue at dafilms.com with 2000+ titles.

The 22nd Thessaloniki Documentary Festival (5/3 – 15/3/2020) presents an extensive tribute to animated documentary, a surprising hybrid sub-genre that has grown rapidly in the last few years.

The tribute includes a selection of short and feature animated documentaries and its aim is to bring out the use of animation as a tool for representation, showing the different functions and techniques.

Comedies, thrillers, portraits, contemporary narratives: Animated documentaries are as versatile as life itself. Animation offers creative freedom to directors, brings History to life and changes the art of documentary.

The full list of films will be announced soon.

Waltz with Bashir by Ari Folman, 2008, Israel-France-Germany, 87΄

Israeli director Ari Folman is battling the ghosts of the past, through the autobiographical Waltz with Bashir. Almost 26 years after the Lebanon War and the massacre of thousands of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps under the eyes of the Israeli soldiers. Folman who was a young soldier during the Lebanon War makes a dark journey to the bloody September of 1982.

Crulic: The Path to Beyond by Anca Damian, 2011, Romania-Poland, 73΄

The animated documentary feature-length Crulic – The Path to Beyond tells the story of the life of Crulic, a 33-years-old Romanian who died in a Polish prison while on hunger strike. The acclaimed Romanian actor, Vlad Ivanov, narrates Crulic’s ironic voice over from beyond the grave. A strong visual style, the result of beautiful hand drawn, collage, stop-motion and cut-out animation techniques, blend to create a striking, surprisingly integrated and memorable film.

Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?: An Animated Conversation with Noam Chomsky by Michel Gondry, 2013, France, 88΄

An unlikely pairing of form and style, Michel Gondry’s animated documentary successfully gives Noam Chomsky’s philosophical musings an expressive canvas with a delightfully anarchic animation style. The film’s real topic is the elusive nature of all thought processes, and it effectively shares the dual speakers’ collective journey without revealing any tangible destination. The movie ends, but the discussion resonates indefinitely.

The Wanted 18 by Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan, 2014, Canada-Palestine-France, 75΄

This feature film incorporates live action footage with animation to tell the curious story of 18 cows. Acquired by a Palestinian community in the late 1980s, the cows were a symbol of freedom and resistance, providing milk for the Palestinian residents of Beit Sahour so that they would not rely on Israeli producers. Soon the illegal cows, cherished by the Palestinians, were being sought by the Israeli army as a threat to security. With humor and passion, the film captures the spirit of the 1987 uprising through the personal experiences of those who lived it.

25 April by Leanne Pooley by New Zealand, 2015, 85΄

The tragic 1915 Gallipoli Campaign of WW1 is told through the letters by six New Zealanders who were involved.

Nuts! By Penny Lane, 2016, USA, 79΄

Inventive and wildly fun, the film recounts the mostly-true story of John Romulus Brinkley, a Kansas doctor who in 1917 discovered that he could cure impotence by transplanting goat testicles into men. Mixing hand-drawn animated reenactments, interviews, archival footage, and a highly unreliable narrator, Nuts! traces Brinkley’s rise from poverty and obscurity to the heights of celebrity, wealth, and influence. Nuts! lives up to its title in the best way, offering a delightfully unorthodox look at a bizarre – and largely unexplored – chapter in American history.

Tower by Keith Maitland, USA, 2016, 82΄

On August 1st, 1966, a sniper rode the elevator to the top floor of the University of Texas Tower and opened fire, holding the campus hostage for 96 minutes. When the gunshots were finally silenced, the toll included 16 dead, three dozen wounded, and a shaken nation left trying to understand. Combining archival footage with animation in a dynamic, never-before-seen way, Tower reveals the action-packed untold stories of the witnesses, heroes and survivors of America’s first mass school shooting, when the worst in one man brought out the best in so many others.

Another Day of Life by Raul de la Fuente and Damian Nenow, Poland-Spain-Belgium-Germany-Hungary, 2018, 86΄

Angola, 1975. A bloody civil war breaks out on the eve of the country's independence. Polish reporter Ryszard Kapuscinski embarks on a seemingly suicidal road trip into the heart of the civil war. There, he witnesses the dirty reality of war and realizes the power and ambiguity of his role as a journalist. This experience changes him forever, a reporter travelled to Angola but a writer returns.

Chris the Swiss by Anja Kofmel, 2018, Switzerland-Croatia-Germany-Finland, 90΄

Croatia, January 1992. In the midst of the Yugoslav Wars, Chris, a young Swiss journalist is found dead in mysterious circumstances. He was wearing the uniform of an international mercenary group. Anja Kofmel was his cousin. As a little girl, she used to admire this handsome young man; now a grown-up woman, she decides to investigate his story, trying to understand what really was the involvement of Chris in the conflict…

His Mother's Voice by Dennis Tupicoff, 1997, Australia, 15΄

What can a mother say when her son is violently taken away from her? Dennis Tupicoff’s endeavor answers the question – twice. Matthew Easdale was shot dead in a house in Brisbane in April, 1995. His mother, Kathy Easdale, was interviewed for ABC Radio a few weeks later. Using the original radio interview, the film presents the account in two very different ways, showcasing the power of storytelling to deal with trauma: an intimate exploration of the deepest abyss of human soul.

Survivors by Sheila Sofian, 1997, USA, 16΄

With images that are sometimes abstract or vividly representational, this animated documentary is based on interviews with victims of domestic violence who bravely recount their brutal histories, and, with the help of counselors, take their first steps towards healing.

Grasshopper by Bob Sabiston, 2003, USA, 15΄

In Grasshopper, park-bench philosopher AJ Vadehra expounds on astrology and more productive avenues of contemplation. This animated but otherwise unedited fifteen-minute interview film is a good example of what happens when you approach the right stranger with a camera. From the animators of Waking Life.

Ryan by Chris Landreth, 2004, Canada, 14΄

This Oscar®-winning animated short from Chris Landreth is based on the life of Ryan Larkin, a Canadian animator who produced some of the most influential animated films of his time. Ryan is living every artist’s worst nightmare - succumbing to addiction, panhandling on the streets to make ends meet. Through computer-generated characters, Landreth interviews the animator to shed light on his downward spiral, while projecting his own insecurities.

Never Like the First Time by Jonas Odell, 2006, Sweden, 15΄

Four different people tell, in their own words, what it was like to lose their virginity. The diverse experiences recounted in the four different animated stories, some tragic and some comic, are told by both the teenagers and the old people that appear in the stories and they all have one thing in common – it is “never like the first time!”.

Slaves – an animated documentary by Hanna Heilborn and David Aronowitsch, 2008, Sweden-Norway-Denmark, 15΄

Abuk and Machiek are two out of thousands of children captured by the government-sponsored militia during the Civil War in Sudan. In Slaves – an animated documentary, they talk about their experiences from the day they were captured, until the moment they’re released by James Auger Alic and his organisation CEAWC (Committee of Eradication of Abduction of Women and Children).

Madagascar, carnet de voyage by Bastien Dubois, 2010, Fiji-France, 12΄

Told in the form of a travel notebook, the story follows the steps of a Western traveller who is brought face to face with the Malagasy customs and rituals, especially the Famadihana, the ritual of the turning of the bones. The pages turn, the drawings come to life, and the luxuriant landscapes of Madagascar appear one after another. The celebrations may commence… The jumble of sketches and images across multiple styles, recreate that sometimes overwhelming sense of being fully present and stimulated that one gets when placed in such a rich, yet foreign environment.

Lipsett Diaries by Theodore Ushev, 2010, Canada, 14΄

A descent into the maelstrom of anguish that tormented famed Canadian experimental filmmaker Arthur Lipsett, who died prematurely at age 49. Taking the form of a diary, this animated film charts the meanderings of psychological distress, with clashes of images and sounds evoking the loneliness of the artist’s childhood, his frenzied creations and his dizzying fall into depression and madness. The result is both spectacular and daring: a fragmented and fascinating short film that plunges us into the whirlwind of a mind out of balance – a singular study of what happens when genius is on first-name terms with madness…

30%: Women and Politics in Sierra Leone by Anna Cady and Em Cooper, 2013, UK-Sierra Leone, 11΄

The story of the ten-year battle to achieve fair representation for women in the governance of Sierra Leone is revealed by three women from diverse backgrounds. Bernadette Lahai, Salamatu Kamara and Barbara Bangura share their stories of the ‘road blocks’ women face within the world of politics in Sierra Leone. Em Cooper’s exquisite oil painted on glass animation combined with live action video transforms issues of gender and politics into compelling and thought-provoking viewing.

Nowhere Line: Voices from Manus Island by Lukas Schrant, 2015, Australia, 15΄

The animated short documentary tells the stories of two men, currently detained in Australia’s notorious Manus Island Offshore Processing Centre. In October 2014, director Lukas Schrank made phone contact with the men, who were able to tell their stories from within the compound. Their interviews offer a chilling insight into the reality of life for the 2000 people currently being held in Australia’s offshore detention centres. Their stories are the voice of the film, guiding the animation deep into the fenced facility of the Manus Island Regional Processing Centre.

The Driver is Red by Randal Christopher, USA, 2017, 15΄

Set in Argentina 1960, The Driver Is Red is a true crime documentary that follows the story of secret agent Zvi Aharoni as he searches for one of the highest-ranking Nazi war criminals on the run, Adolf Eichmann.

 

Flesh by Camila Kater, Brazil-Spain, 2019, 12΄

Flesh is about how women are seen as bodies for disposal, judged as time passes as meat cooking stages. Through the form and texture of real materials such as paint, watercolor, clay, 35mm film and virtual image decomposition such as glitches and datamosh, five women are represented in animation by women animators to highlight the perverse way in which society looks at them.